Halogen incandescent lamps combined with reflectors frequently use a cap secured to the lamp reflector to prevent direct radiation from the halogen incandescent light source. Such lamps are suitable for many applications and are frequently used for special illumination effects, for spot illumination, and the like.
The cap usually is carried by narrow support strips or bars which extend, customarily, towards the base region of the reflector lamp, to be secured thereto. They do not extend quite parallel to the axis of the lamp, but rather usually at an acute angle with respect thereto. The ends of these attachment strips or pins penetrate the reflector in the vicinity of its base or apex and are secured to the reflector housing in a suitable manner. The lamp-reflector unit may have various types of bases, for example fitting a bayonet-type socket.
To place a lamp of this type into the socket, to remove a lamp for other use, and the like, it is frequently difficult to grasp the reflector due to constraints of space and mounting unit or combination in fittings and the like. To exchange or place lamps, thus, it is frequently necessary to grasp the lamp at the cap thereof, or on the support pins or strips which hold the cap to the reflector. Since the caps are light, the support strips or pins likewise are not designed as sturdy structural supports and, upon grasping the cap to mount the unit in a socket, it is easily possible to bend the narrow pins or strips, resulting in an undesirable shift in position of the cap with respect to the halogen incandescent light bulb. This detrimentally affects the optical characteristics of the lamp-reflector unit.